Broken sofa couple told: You sit on it too much

“What are we supposed to do? Sit on the floor and just look at them. If you buy a dog, you don’t bark yourself.”

Gwenda Griffiths and her husband from Maes Syflog, Porthmadog with damaged sofa

A COUPLE who forked out over £1,000 for two sofas were told they were “sitting on it too much” when the leather covering on the furniture began to peel.

Ben and Gwenda Gilmore from Pensyflog, Porthmadog are now fuming that furniture chain Harveys are refusing to replace the items – despite the fact they paid an extra £185 for a five-year extended warranty.

The grandparents spotted the two leather sofas in a sale at the company’s Llandudno showroom and paid for the items in cash.

However, less than two years later, and large chunks of both of the sofa’s leather exterior have begun peeling off whilst one of the arm rests has also collapsed.

Despite taking out an extended warranty for piece of mind, the couple have been locked in a battle for months with Harvey’s, who they say are refusing to honour the policy.

They have now reported the matter to Trading Standards and have warned they will not take the upset sitting down.

Gwenda said: “We took out the extended leather warranty because the salesman told us that it would cover absolutely everything, from the dog ripping it to someone dropping a pint on the leather.

“When the leather began peeling, we weren’t very worried about it to begin with because we thought we had that security.

“But we’ve been dealing with Harveys since before Christmas now and they just don’t want to know.”

The couple say that in the space of just a few months they have received four visits from Harvey’s upholstery contractors Castelan, who have allegedly reported back to the company saying that there is no “defect” or “manufacturing problem” with the furniture.

Gwenda said that the ordeal has been a particular strain on her husband who suffers from COPD – a collection of lung diseases, diabetes, heart failure and needs the constant use of respirator.

She added: “Ben was taken ill last week and hospitalised for two days with bronchial pneumonia. This whole thing has taken its toll.

“They initially sent us a letter saying they were going to repair the sofas but they changed their mind and now say there’s nothing they can do.

“We took out the warranty to avoid situations like this but they just don’t want to listen.”

Ben said the behaviour of the company was disgraceful: “During one of the visits from Castelan, the engineer told us ‘it’s going to take me nine hours to fix one of the sofas and I’m not prepared to do it.’ I replied ‘it’s taken me a hell of a lot longer to save to buy the sofa.

“During one of my phone calls to Harveys, they told us that the sofa had started to deteriorate because we were sitting on them too much.

“What are we supposed to do? Sit on the floor and just look at them. If you buy a dog, you don’t bark yourself.”

Despite repeated attempts to contact Harveys, they had not responded as the Herald went to print.

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The Editor

Mark Thoma

Liverpool-born Mark joined the Daily Post in January 2014 after seven years as editor of its Merseyside sister title the Liverpool Post. He started out as a weekly news reporter on Wirral Newspapers, and spent seven years at the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo. He was The Press Association's regional correspondent for North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire from 1983 to 1997, before returning to the ECHO as deputy news editor. He has won a number of journalism awards, including the UK Press Gazzette Regional Reporter of the Year award, and in 1993 wrote a book on the James Bulger murder.